St. Thomas baseball lost its doubleheader against St. John’s by losing the first game 5-4 and the second 1-0 Tuesday at Koch Diamond.
The Johnnies (11-5 MIAC, 26-9 overall) scored the only run of the second game with a home run to right field by infielder Joey Stock to start the fourth inning.
Left fielder Sam Cobbs attempted to tie the game for the Tommies (8-5 MIAC, 16-10 overall) in the bottom of the ninth after a fly ball by outfielder Josh Thorp landed in center field, but was called out at third after overrunning the base.
“It’s an aggressive mistake, which is OK,” coach Chris Olean said. “But we certainly don’t want to make an out in the bases.”
The Tommies outhit the Johnnies 6-4 and had a man on third in the seventh, but were unable to tie the game. Thorp recorded two of the Tommies’ six hits and was left on base twice in the game.
“Two one-run losses to your rivals at home—that hurts,” Thorpe said. “Just have to take some time to think about it, and we have to bounce back for tomorrow.”
With the losses, the Tommies lost the tiebreaker to the Johnnies and are now in third place behind St. John’s and Gustavus.
“Big losses for us in the conference,” Olean said. “We’re still OK, but (losing) certainly didn’t help.”
The Tommies will play a postponed game against Gustavus Adolphus on Wednesday.
Matt Curry can be reached at curr1523@stthomas.edu